ai4bharat/Pralekha huggingface dataset:
Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution
Government directs FCI to conduct e-auctions of wheat and rice to check inflationary trends in retail prices
Declaration in Wheat Stock Monitoring System portal mandatory for participation in the auctions
FSSAI License made mandatory for participation to identify genuine processors and traders
Chairman and Managing Director, Food Corporation of India, Shri Ashok K. K. Meena said that the Government has now directed the FCI to conduct the e-auctions of wheat and rice to check the inflationary trends in prevailing retail prices as a part of market intervention to control the price of wheat and rice. Shri Meena said this while addressing the media today in New Delhi.
The base price of wheat has been been kept at the same level at Rs. 2150/qtl for FAQ and Rs. 2125/qtl for URS wheat. In order to control the hoarding of wheat, the Government has decided that the declaration in the Wheat Stock Monitoring System portal is mandatory for participation in the auctions. In addition to this, in order to identify the genuine processors and traders, the valid FSSAI License has also been made mandatory for participation.
The maximum quantity that a buyer can bid for is limited to 100 MTs in this e-auction. To accommodate the small wheat processors and traders, the minimum quantity has been kept to 10 MTs. Further, to accommodate the small and marginal traders and processors of wheat, the EMD for participation in the e-auctions has also been reduced by 50% from the earlier levels.
The bidding is also limited to the local buyers by ensuring that the GST registration of the State is mapped and checked before stocks are released. These measures are taken to ensure a wider local reach for the stocks offered in a particular State.
4 LMT of wheat is being offered in the 1st e-auction from 457 depots across the country. 271 fresh empanelment of buyers were done after 01.04.2023. There are 2093 active empanelled bidders as on date.
The e-auction for rice under Open Market Sale Scheme  would commence from 5th July, 2023. The base price of Rice is Rs 3100/qtl.
6 weekly e-auctions of wheat were conducted by FCI till 15.03.2023. Total quantity of 33.7 LMT wheat was offloaded and the prices of Wheat came down by 19% due to this massive intervention in a span of 45 days. Due to the Rabi Procurement period of Wheat, the market intervention was suspended.
Ministry of Coal
Shri Pralhad Joshi Chairs Consultative Committee Meeting on Jharia Coalfield Master Plan
Union Minister of Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs Shri Pralhad Joshi chaired a meeting of Parliamentary Consultative Committee of Ministry of Coal today in Parliament House to discuss way ahead for Jharia Master Plan. Hon’ble MPs participated in the Consultative Committee meeting.
During the presentation, it was informed that due to unscientific mining in pre-nationalisation period, mining areas in Jharia coalfield area have faced problems of fire and subsidence. Now these areas fall in the leasehold regions of Bharat Coking Coal Limited.
As an outcome of WP No.381/97 filed by late Sri Haradhan Roy, Ex-MP in 1997 in the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, a Master Plan for dealing with Fire, Subsidence and Rehabilitation in Jharia was approved on 12th August 2009 by Govt. of India with implementation period of 10 years and pre-implementation period of 2 years. The implementation period ended in August 2021.
As a result of fire control measures taken by BCCL, fire area is continuously decreasing and at present as per NRSC surveys in 2021 fire sites has been reduced to 18 sites covering 1.8 sq. km from initial 70 sites covering area of 17.32sq. km. At present, 15 sites are economically viable, wherein work related to digging of fire has been awarded and at 2 sites BCCL board has recommended viability gap funding of Rs. 763 crores from revised Master Plan. At 4 sites, blanketing will be done to cover the fire sites with a view to extinguish fire.
Regarding rehabilitation, there are 595 sites wherein BCCL is responsible for taking actions to shift its staff from BCCL houses. BCCL has undertaken construction of 15852 houses and at present about 3852 families are to be shifted to the new houses. BCCL has proposed 8000 houses to be utilised by Jharia Rehabilitation & Development Authority  for non-BCCL families.
In case of rehabilitation of non-BCCL families, there has been substantial increase in number of encroachers as on 2019 against the cut-off date provision of 2004. State Government is responsible for shifting of legal & non-legal title holders. JRDA under State Government has taken up construction of 18352 houses out of which 6352 are completed and rest will be completed by August 2022.
JRDA has prepared a revised rehabilitation proposal which State Government is examining. In the meantime, Ministry of Coal has constituted a committee to examine the issue in detail and submit a report on way ahead.
Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution
Cabinet approves assistance of about Rs. 3,500 crore for sugarcane farmers 
This assistance would be directly credited into farmers’ accounts
Decision will benefit the five crore sugarcane farmers  and their dependents, as well as the five lakh workers employed in the sugar mills and related ancillary activities
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved assistance of about Rs. 3,500 crore for sugarcane farmers .
Currently, there are close to five crore sugarcane farmers  and their dependents in India. In addition to this, there are about five lakh workers employed in the sugar mills and ancillary activities; and their livelihood depends on the sugar industry.
Farmers sell their sugarcane to the sugar mills, however the farmers are not getting their dues from the sugar mill owners as they have surplus sugar stock. To address this concern, the Government is facilitating the evacuation of surplus sugar stock. This will enable payment of dues of the sugarcane farmers. Government will incur about Rs. 3,500 crore for this purpose, and this assistance would be directly credited into farmers’ accounts on behalf of sugar mills against cane price dues and subsequent balance, if any, would be credited to mill’s account.
This subsidy aims at covering expenses on marketing costs including handling, upgrading and other processing costs and costs of international and internal transport and freight charges on export of upto 60 LMT of sugar limited to Maximum Admissible Export Quota  allocated to sugar mills for sugar season 2020-21
This decision will benefit the five crore sugarcane farmers and their dependents, as well as the five lakh workers employed in the sugar mills and related ancillary activities.
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
FSSAI’S FoSCoS WEB APPLICATION TO BE NOW AVAILABLE IN REGIONAL LANGUAGES
1.2 CRORE FOOD BUSINESSS OPERATORS TO BE BENEFITED
In its endeavour of supporting ease of doing business in procuring licenses/ registration by Food Business Operators , the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India  has undertaken to translate its web-based application Food Safety and Compliance System  in Hindi, followed by all the regional languages. The latest measure promises to support ease of use for all new FBO’s in applying for licenses. As a result, more than 1.2 crore have registered FBOs for license renewal.
For the purpose of making the food safety ecosystem robust and facilitating wider reach, FSSAI has initiated many user-friendly features in the application, of which the first step is making it available in all other regional languages for license and registration purposes. This will also result in a boost in traffic and revenue, expand reachability and deliver a world-class experience.
The availability of the FOSCOS application in Hindi and all regional languages will also help the FBOs in getting a better understanding of the Food Safety Compliance System. The availability of the system in Hindi and all regional languages will lead to a higher rate of confidence and increased participation by FBOs.
The FOSCOS is a comprehensive system for registration and licensing for FBOs. It is a one-point stop for FBOs for their interface with the food safety regulator for all type of compliances.
Ministry of Jal Shakti
Plan to Irrigate Sizeable Area of Land Under The BNY
Water is a State subject and the development of irrigation and drinking water thus falls in the ambit of respective State Governments. As such the planning, execution, operation and maintenance of irrigation and drinking water projects are to be carried out by the States from their own resources as per their priorities. Ministry of Jal Shakti examines the projects from inter-State and other technical aspects before clearing it from techno-economic consideration for major/medium irrigation & multipurpose projects.
Government of India had implemented the Bharat Nirman Yojana  from 2005 to 2014 to build rural infrastructure for the development of rural areas of the country. Irrigation is one of the components for development of rural infrastructure under Bharat Nirman.
Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana  was launched during 2015-16 by the Central Government to complete long pending irrigation projects, ensuring Har Khet Ko Pani -Command Area Development & Water Management , Surface Minor Irrigation  / Repair, Renovation & Restoration  of Water Bodies and Ground Water Irrigation with an overarching vision to ensure access to some means of protective irrigation for all agricultural farms in the country, and to produce ‘per drop more crop’, thus bringing much desired rural prosperity. This scheme is under implementation at present.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Jal Shakti and Food Processing Industries, Shri Prahlad Singh Patel in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.
Ministry of Education
Shri Dharmendra Pradhan to launch Bharatiya Bhasha Utsav and Technology & Bharatiya Bhasha Summit
Two-day summit to be held on September 30 and October 1, 2023
Summit to set course for a technologically enriched future for Bharatiya languages in education
Union Minister for Education and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Shri Dharmendra Pradhan is to launch a two-day Bharatiya Bhasha Utsav and Technology & Bharatiya Bhasha Summit, to be held on September 30th and October 1st, 2023 at New Delhi. It will set the course for a technologically enriched future for Bharatiya languages in education.
Shri Sridhar Vembu, Chairman of the Board of Governors of IIIT-DM, Kanchipuram and CEO of Zoho Corporation, will deliver the keynote address. Eminent dignitaries, educationists, technology and language experts, and officials of the Ministry of Education will be present at the event.
The Government of India has proposed to celebrate the birthday of renowned Tamil poet and freedom fighter Mahakavi Chinnaswami Subramania Bharati as Bharatiya Bhasha Divas . The Bharatiya Bhasha Utsav will be held from 28th September 2023 to 11th December 2023.
The summit, organized as part of the Bharatiya Bhasha Utsav, will encompass three pivotal thematic sessions:  Technology FOR Bharatiya Languages,  Technology IN Bharatiya Languages, and  Technology THROUGH Bharatiya Languages. These themes will emphasize the integration of technology in promoting Bharatiya Bhasha, including its role in teaching, training, examination, and translating educational materials. The summit aims to facilitate a seamless transition from the current education ecosystem to one rooted in Bharatiya Languages, in line with the NEP-2020 vision.
During the summit, key discussions will be held on agendas like "Leverage Technology for Bharatiya Languages", "Operating Systems and Software Localization", "Search Engine Localization" and more. A comprehensive roadmap for realizing the vision of education in Bharatiya Languages will be charted, with active participation from stakeholders across various sectors, including academia, students, research scholars, edutech and infotech industry professionals, technical experts, media representatives, and freelancers.
A public pavilion will also be set up to showcase Bharatiya Bhasha technology products, its applications by the industries, government organizations and start-ups.
The summit will be jointly organized by the Ministry of Education , Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship , and their constituent institutions, such as the Central Institute of Indian Languages , University Grants Commission , National Educational Technology Forum , All India Council for Technical Education , National Centre for Vocational & Technical Education , National Council for Teachers Education , Bharatiya Bhasha Samiti , and others.
For more information and registration details, please visit the Summit website: https://technology-bharatiyabhasha.aicte-india.org
President's Secretariat
President of India to grace a function on the occasion of 127th birth anniversary of Babasaheb Dr BR Ambedkar in Mhow
The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, will visit Madhya Pradesh  tomorrow . The President will pay his tributes to Babasaheb Dr BR Ambedkar at his memorial in Mhow, the birth place of Dr Ambedkar, and grace a function being organised on his 127th birth anniversary.
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
Sustained shedding of Active Caseload  continues
Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh have reported Maximum Decline in Active Cases in past 1 month
Total tests in India cross landmark of 14 Cr
In the last 24 hours, only 38,772 persons were found to be infected with COVID in India. In the same period, India also registered 45,333 new recoveries ensuring a net reduction of 7,004 cases from Active Caseload.
The contraction of India’s Active Caseload has ensured that India’s present active caseload of 4,46,952 consists of just 4.74% of India’s Total Positive Cases.
The difference in New Recoveries outnumbering New Cases has also improved the Recovery Rate to 93.81% today. The total recovered cases stand at 88,47,600. The gap between Recovered Cases and Active Cases, that is steadily increasing, presently stands at 84,00,648 i.e 19.8 times the active cases.
Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh have reported highest decline in Active Cases in the past one month.
Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan are reporting a rise in the active caseload, on the other hand.
India has crossed a landmark milestone in its fight against COVID, with the total tests having crossed the 14 cr mark today. 8,76,173 tests have been conducted in the last 24 hours. India has ramped up its per day testing capacity to 15 lakh.
Ten States/UTs have contributed 78.31% of the new cases reported in the last 24 hours.
Kerala reported 5,643 cases in the last 24 hours followed closely by Maharashtra which recorded 5,544 new cases. Delhi reported another 4,906 new cases yesterday.
76.94% of the new recovered cases are contributed by ten States/UTs.
With 6,325 persons recovering from COVID, Delhi saw the greatest number of recoveries. Kerala registered another 5,861 daily recoveries while Maharashtra reported 4,362 new recoveries.
78.56% of the 443 case fatalities that have been reported in the past 24 hours are from Ten States/UTs. The national Case Fatality Rate has further dipped to 1.45%. India is one of the countries with the lowest deaths per million population globally .
19.18% of new fatalities reported are from Maharashtra which reported 85 deaths. Delhi saw a fatality count of 68 while West Bengal reported 54 new deaths.
Finance Commission
Fourth Meeting of the Advisory Council of the Fifteenth Finance Commission held today
The Fourth meeting of the Advisory Council of the 15th Finance Commission was held in New Delhi today. Chairman and Members of the Commission and members of the Advisory Council attended the meeting.
The Advisory Council members were updated by the Commission regarding the progress made in terms of state visits by the Commission, upcoming consultative meeting with the GST council and interaction with other experts.
The Possible macro assumptions for the Commission’s award period relating to real growth, inflation etc were discussed in detail.
Issues related to Goods & Services Tax  and rationalization of Centrally Sponsored Schemes were discussed and views of eminent members of Advisory Council were sought.
The Council will meet again before the submission of the Commission’s final report.
The Advisory Council Members present: Dr. D.K. Srivastava, Dr. M Govinda Rao, Dr. Indira Rajaraman, Dr. Sudipto Mundle, Dr. Omkar Goswami, Dr. Arvind Virmani, Dr. Krishnamurthy Subramanian, Dr. Surjit Bhalla, Dr. Prachi Mishra and Mr. Neelkanth Mishra.
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
India’s Cumulative COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage exceeds 200.61 Cr
Over 3.81 Cr 1st dose vaccines administered for age group 12-14 years
India's Active caseload currently stands at 1,45,654
20,557 new cases reported in the last 24 hours
Recovery Rate currently stands at 98.47%
Weekly Positivity Rate is presently at 4.64%
India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 200.61 Cr  as per provisional reports till 7 am today. This has been achieved through 2,64,58,875 sessions.
COVID-19 vaccination for the age group 12-14 years was started on 16 March, 2022. So far, more than 3.81 Cr  adolescents have been administered with the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Similarly, the COVID-19 precaution dose administration for age group 18-59 years also started from 10th April, 2022 onwards.
The break-up of the cumulative figure as per the provisional report till 7 am today include:
|
|
Cumulative Vaccine Dose Coverage
|
|
HCWs
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
10410539
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
10081182
|
|
Precaution Dose
|
|
6066760
|
|
FLWs
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
18428070
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
17654983
|
|
Precaution Dose
|
|
11577551
|
|
Age Group 12-14 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
38147897
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
26478978
|
|
Age Group 15-18 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
60897295
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
50269733
|
|
Age Group 18-44 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
558989673
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
506377727
|
|
Precaution Dose
|
|
8434037
|
|
Age Group 45-59 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
203585682
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
194681701
|
|
Precaution Dose
|
|
6195274
|
|
Over 60 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
127373114
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
121647005
|
|
Precaution Dose
|
|
28827483
|
|
Precaution Dose
|
|
6,11,01,105
|
|
Total
|
|
2,00,61,24,684
India’s Active Caseload currently stands at 1,45,654. Active cases now constitute 0.33% of the country's total Positive Cases.
Consequently, India’s recovery rate stands at 98.47%. 18,517 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours and the cumulative tally of recovered patients  is now at 4,31,32,140.
20,557 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours.
The last 24 hours saw a total of 4,98,034 COVID-19 tests being conducted. India has so far conducted over 87.06 Cr  cumulative tests.
Weekly Positivity Rate in the country currently stands at 4.64% and the Daily Positivity rate is reported to be 4.13%.
|
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
|
COVID-19 Vaccination Update - Day 239
India’s Cumulative Vaccination Coverage crosses 73.73 Cr
More than 64 lakh Vaccine Doses administered today till 7 pm
India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has crossed 73.73 Crore  today. More than 64 lakh  Vaccine Doses have been administered till 7 pm today. The daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late tonight.
The cumulative coverage of vaccine doses, segregated based on population priority groups, is as follows:
|
|
Cumulative Vaccine Dose Coverage
|
|
HCWs
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
1,03,63,662
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
85,86,170
|
|
FLWs
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
1,83,36,371
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
1,39,85,737
|
|
Age Group 18-44 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
29,63,47,823
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
4,27,31,015
|
|
Age Group 45-59 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
14,27,92,517
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
6,24,31,109
|
|
Over 60 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
9,26,61,057
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
4,91,31,852
|
|
Cumulative 1st dose administered
|
|
56,05,01,430
|
|
Cumulative 2nd dose administered
|
|
17,68,65,883
|
|
Total
|
|
73,73,67,313
Today’s achievement in the vaccination exercise, segregated by population priority groups, is as follows:
|
|
Date: 11th September, 2021 
|
|
HCWs
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
323
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
14,687
|
|
FLWs
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
886
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
73,331
|
|
Age Group 18-44 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
27,44,014
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
15,85,740
|
|
Age Group 45-59 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
64,9930
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
7,12,236
|
|
Over 60 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
3,26,466
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
3,41,939
|
|
1st Dose Administered in Total
|
|
37,21,619
|
|
2nd Dose Administered in Total
|
|
27,27,933
|
|
Total
|
|
64,49,552
The vaccination exercise as a tool to protect the most vulnerable population groups in the country from COVID-19 continues to be regularly reviewed and monitored at the highest level.
Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution
Storage of foodgrains by private companies
Any notification regarding the permissible limit for storage of foodgrains is issued only when stock limits are imposed on the foodgrains under the EC Act. The Essential Commodities  Act, 2020 provides that any action on imposing stock limit shall be based on price rise i.e.  hundred per cent increase in the retail price of horticultural produce; or  fifty per cent increase in the retail price of non-perishable agricultural foodstuffs; over the price prevailing immediately preceding twelve months, or average retail price of last five years, whichever is lower. The amendment provides that such order shall not be applicable to a processor or value chain participant of any agricultural produce, if the stock limit of such person does not exceed the overall ceiling of installed capacity of processing or the demand for export in case of an exporter.
State Governments as well as Central Government continue to exercise powers under the Prevention of Black Marketing and Maintenance of Supplies of Essential Commodities Act, 1980 which provides for detention in such cases for the purpose of prevention of black-marketing and maintenance of supplies of essential commodities.
This information was given in a written reply by the Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Shri DanveRaosahebDadarao in Rajya Sabha today.
Ministry of Science & Technology
Kolkata students create Guinness World Records with largest astrophysics assemble
The Guinness World Records for the largest astrophysics lesson  and assembly of spectroscopes was successfully achieved at the Science City, Kolkata on the first day of India International Science Festival  2019 today with the participation of over 1,598 students.
Astronomers use spectroscopes to know details like temperature, chemical composition, etc. of celestial objects hundreds or millions of light years away from us.
A small personal model of advanced spectroscopes can easily be made by anyone using a box made of cardboard that has a very narrow window used to channel light into the spectroscope.
A piece of a Compact Disc is used to split the light by a process called diffraction. This attempt is dedicated to Meghnad Saha and C. V. Raman.
The host city of the 5th IISF-2019 is home to renowned scientific institutions that have been the workplace of pioneering scientists who gave shape to science in India. IISF is the largest science festival in the world. The theme for this year’s festival is RISEN India –Research, Innovation and Science Empowering the Nation.
On second day of IISF, the largest electronics lesson and assembly of optical media communication units at a single location will be attempted with the participation of over 1,000 students. Communication link set up through Infrared signals - Wireless infrared communications refers to the use of free-space propagation of light waves in the near infrared band as a transmission medium for communication. This attempt is dedicated to Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman and Satyendra Nath Bose.